ACCESSIBLE ARCHIVES
Collection: The Liberator
Publication: THE LIBERATOR
Date: January 3, 1851
Title: From the Chicago Commercial Register. GEORGETHOMPSON.
Location: Boston
Hospitality is one of the most renowned excellencies that u nation can foster. It covers many in old scar, and hears many an ugly wound. It soothes many an angry breast, and clams the violent ripple of man's tempestuous rage. Let a man be ever so vile, if he is hospitable to the stranger, he will find some respect: let him be ever so great an enemy, if he treat you kindly, you cannot but forgive and forget. This is not less true of nations than it is of individuals; and if its violation is looked upon with abhorrence in the private circle, how much more ought it to be in national intercourse!It has been the peculiar boast of America—and that justly—that she is ready to receive and treat kindly men of every and of any nation. She has thrown open her doors, and received men of every condition and grade into her great family. Her vast territories lay ready for the spade of the Anglo-Saxon, the Gale, the Celt, the German, or the Scandinavian, and as soon as they plant themselves on American soil, they are vested with the rights and privileges of freemen. Especially has this spirit been cultivated between America and England. Great men of both nations have visited each other, and been heartily and joyfully welcomed. Bancroft, our historian, has received titles at Oxford; and Bulwer and James are on this side, receiving the honors due to talent and learning.In the midst of all this, however, we are astounded by the intelligence that the good people of Boston hooted down the world-renowned G T in public meeting, and resnged him the right of free speech—nye, and that, too, within the walls of Faneuil Hall, the 'Old Cradle of Liberty.'GeorgeThompson is neither a branch nor limb of the aristocracy of England. He has risen from the ranks of the working classes to what Lord Brougham Characterized him—'the most eloquent man, and the most accomplished orator' that he ever heard. He is truly a self-made man,— risen up in spite of all the hope-blasting influences that confront the young aspirant, in aristocratic England. His first debul was in opposing one of the Right Reverend Bishops of the Church of England, for attempting to tax the people more heavily for the support of the sinful connection of Church and State. He then embarked under the sing of Wilberforce, Sturge, and others, and with them wrought against monopoly, wealth, and power, till their object was accomplished. He next entered the ranks of the free-traders, and with Richard Cobden, John Right, and others, battled and stormed the bulwarks of aristocratic conservation, till the ports of Great Britain were thrown wide open to receive the produce of America and other nations. His attention was then turned to India. he travelled through the East,— after the wars of Afghanistan and Cabul,— took notes of the state of things there, and returned home, and exposed the tyranny of the East India Company, and of British miserable and cruly in that country. He was elected to Parliament, in opposition to an English aristocrat, by one of the most overwhelming majorities ever received in a contested election. His maiden speech to the House of Commons, in spite of the opposition and interruption of Sir John Hob house, was one of the most triumphant displays that ever took place in that House. It was in defence of the Rajah of Satara, one of the injured Indian princes. He is the advocate of universal suffrage, vote by ballot, triennial Parliaments; in fact, every thing characteristic of republicanism over monarchy has been vindicated and supported by him in every capacity and on every fit occasion.Is it not strange that such a man should, within the republic of America, be hooted down? It is said he is an abolitionist; so are most Englishmen. The chaunts of abolitionism are taught from the cradle and sung daily in the school. It abolitionism is his crime, he is not the only one who has visited America. But he is more than an abolitionist; he is an honest man. Father Mathew was an abolitionist as well; but he changed with the weather-cock, and, although his repentance was at the eleventh hour, he was carried, as it were, on the shoulders of Boston. Had Mr.Thompson been as versatile in his principles, he would probably also have been cheered by a mobocratic audience, and flattered by a mobocratic press. Father Mathew, at the time of the Irish rebellion in Ireland, was as mote as a lamb — and quietly pocketed his pension of 1500 dollars per annum— but when he came to America, he denounced the power that pensions him as tyrannical, and the government, under whose pay he is, as vindictive and cruel. GeorgeThompson opposed, both by voice and vote, the action of the English towards Ireland;— and in America, he is still the same.— Father Mathew is applauded as a patriot, GeorgeThompson is hooted as a miscreant.But all this is the result of prejudice, produced by the rowdy press of New York and Boston, whose sentiments have been echoed and re-echoed throughout the laid by the small fry of the same class. One calls him a tool of the East India Company— that very power which he has so manfully assailed; another, that he is a spy of the British government— that very government which would crush him if it dared— sent here to disorganize this great republic; and another, that he is an agent of the cotton loads of England, sent here to agitate, and affec5t the price of cotton. In fact, anything that would abuse the minds of the people concerning this great man has died ample publicity; and in doing so, they have invented the most gratuitons falsehoods, which have been reiterated by those who knew them to be false. The object is, to injure this eminent advocate of democracy by any means— and if they thought it would take with their renders to call him Marshal Haynan, he would receive the appellation of the Austrian Butcher to-morrow.This is no question of politics; it is a question of national honor and hospitality to the faithfully representative of the working classes of England— and at the mention of whose name, every Englishman's heart, who earns his bread by the sweet of his brow, throbs with enthusiasm; it is a question of reverence to native-born genius and talent;— and that man, be he whig or democrat, who stoops to be the trumpeter of such statements, ought to receive the reprobation of every lover of republicanism.